242 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2026
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
History and development Unaudited information
– On 18 February 2026, Vodafone Group Plc announced that it agreed to sell its 50% interest in VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V. (‘VodafoneZiggo’) to Liberty Global plc (‘Liberty Global’) for €1.0 billion in cash and a 10% shareholding in a soon-to-be-formed Benelux entity (‘Ziggo Group’), which will own 100% of both VodafoneZiggo and Liberty Global’s Belgian subsidiary, Telenet Group Holding (‘Telenet’). – Subsequent event: On 5 May 2026 Vodafone Group Plc announced that it had reached an agreement for the buyout of CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holding Limited (‘CKHGT’) from the VodafoneThree joint venture for £4.3 billion (€4.9 billion) via a cancellation of shares. Click here to view a simplified holding structure for the Vodafone Group: vodafone.com/ holding-structure
– On 01 October 2025, following the announcement on 19 September 2025, Vodafone Romania S.A. and Digi Romania S.A. (‘Digi’) announced that they have completed the acquisition of OTE’s subsidiary, Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A. (‘TKRM’). – On 30 October 2025, Vodafone Group announced that it had entered into a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Skaylink GmbH (‘Skaylink’) primarily from funds managed by Waterland for a total consideration of €175m. – On 04 December 2025, Vodafone Group’s African subsidiary, Vodacom Group (‘Vodacom’) agreed to acquire an effective 20% of the issued share capital in Safaricom Plc (‘Safaricom’), Kenya’s leading telecoms operator (the ‘Acquisition’). Vodacom will acquire 15% from the Government of Kenya (the ‘GOK’) for a cash consideration of €1.36 billion (KES 204 billion), and 5% from Vodafone for a cash consideration of €0.45 billion (KES 68 billion).Following completion of the Acquisition, Safaricom will be owned by Vodacom (55%), the GOK (20%) and public investors (25%) and will be consolidated by both Vodacom and Vodafone. – On 17 December 2025, following the announcement on 30 October 2025, Vodafone Group announced that it has completed the acquisition of 100% of Skaylink GmbH for a total consideration of €175 million. – On 31 December 2025, Vodafone Group Plc announced that it has reached an agreement with Vodafone Idea Limited (‘Vi’) in relation to the final amount payable under the Contingent Liability Adjustment Mechanism (‘CLAM’), which was due to expire on 31 December 2025, as well as an agreement for Vi to settle outstanding Vodafone Group service charges. This closes all material open issues between Vodafone and Vi.
The Company was incorporated under English law in 1984 as Racal Strategic Radio Limited (registered number 1833679). After various name changes, 20% of Racal Telecom Plc share capital was offered to the public in October 1988. The Company was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September 1991 at which time it changed its name to Vodafone Group Plc. Since then we have entered into various transactions which impacted the development of the Group. The most significant in the year ended 31 March 2026 are summarised below. – On 31 May 2025, following the previous announcement on 05 December 2024, Vodafone Group Plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited (‘CKHGT’), announced that the merger of Vodafone UK and Three UK successfully completed. The combined business, named VodafoneThree, is 51% owned by Vodafone and 49% by CKHGT. Vodafone will fully consolidate VodafoneThree in its financial results. – On 19 September 2025, Vodafone Romania S.A. and Digi Romania S.A. (‘Digi’) entered into binding agreements with Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. (‘OTE’) to acquire separate parts of OTE’s subsidiary, Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A. (‘TKRM’). Vodafone acquired TKRM and its post-paid customer base for €30 million (before standard closing adjustments), while Digi has agreed to acquire its pre-paid customer business. Both companies will also gain additional spectrum and towers as part of the transaction.
R ead more in our financial statements, note 12 ‘Investments in associate and joint arrangements’
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